The Witch's Game: The witch who loves games

*** Warning: mild gore ***

When Saskia's voice was no longer echoing throughout the town, the people trapped inside were quiet for a couple of minutes. They were staring paralyzed in shock at the sky where the voice came from like they could not process well Saskia's instructions in their minds. However, once the message finally sipped into their minds, everyone started to look at each other, putting their guards up high. They were searching with their eyes for someone different, someone who can be distinguished as a ghoul. Maybe the entire weight of killing someone has not fully been processed, no one thought of guilt or consequences, but what would humans do if suddenly they are pushed to a situation that either they die or someone else dies.

A woman scream rings on the street that Kyrie is on. Everyone turns their heads towards the noise and looked at the woman being dragged by her hair. She screamed as she dug her nails into that man's hand that was dragging her through the ground by her hair.

The man throws her to the floor and says, "Look at her eyes! Don't all witches have these kinds of eyes?"

Like Saskia's eyes, this woman had rare light gray eyes. The coincidence made the woman shiver in fear. She hysterically started to plead innocence. However, the piercing gaze of the townspeople made her shrank into herself.

"Witch!" A man threw a stone at her.

Like a domino chip tipping over, the eyes of the townspeople darkened, and they cast their stones at the woman without mercy. The woman cried and screamed in pain, but no one stopped until she tipped over and stopped moving. Her face and body were severely bruised. Her eyes no longer possessed any light, and a pond of blood grew below her.

The cruelty shocked Ian. He leaned forward to move towards the dead woman stoned to death for merely coincidentally having the same eyes as the witch that caused them this despair, but Kyrie stopped Ian. Ian, appalled, looked at Kyrie, puzzled.

"Why are you stopping me?" asks Ian.

[Ian...]

Kyrie looked at Ian with a constipated look. Ian was looking at Kyrie for answers, but Kyrie was out of words.

"That woman has just been stoned to death. Kyrie, why are you stopping me?"

Imogen replied coldly to Ian for Kyrie's sake, "Kyrie is too soft on you. Are you seriously going to play the hero now? You should get used to this unless you have the power to save everyone."

Laurel and her group remained quiet like a sign of agreement.

"But this is wrong... Are we just going to let the innocent die? Kyrie?" Ian looked at Kyrie for eye contact, but Kyrie, for some seconds, could not meet Ian's eyes.

Then, Kyrie settled his troubled emotions aside and looked at Ian firmly.

"What Imogen said is right," Kyrie replied at Ian, "We can't save everyone."

Ian's face paled when he heard Kyrie's reply. Ian wondered if this is the Kyrie he always knew.

"Kyrie is always so gentle and kind to me... ah... to ME," Ian finally realizes.

"We can't help everyone, Ian. We can't go around finding three ghouls for each person in the town every day. The least we can do is to find the enchantment circle and break it as soon as we can," Kyrie finally opened his mouth to his real thoughts.

Unlike how teachings went from youth, the reality is much crueller. From the education of youth, doing good was the absolute rule of life. However, reality does not often match up to such teachings. Experience taught people to be selective and also selfish. The survival of oneself is the most important rule of reality.

Ian understood Kyrie's words, but his heart cramped up. The woman was too pitiful, and the culprits were too cruel. Yet, Ian had to accept this kind of reality. Kyrie raised his hand to touch Ian and comfort him. However, Ian avoided Kyrie's touch. His hand left hanging in the air, so he clenched his hand into a fist and lowered it down. Ian's eyes showed hurt and disappointment. Then, Kyrie caught the glance from Imogen and understood her even without communicating with each other.

[Did I really choose the right choice when I avoided Ian from ever going to the front lines while getting banished by the king?]

Due to Kyrie preventing Ian from falsely getting accused and abandoned in the front lines, Ian has not experienced life further than the walls of the castle and those of the academy. This choice also prevented Ian from growing his swordsmanship, making him vulnerable to the future dangers of this world.

[I feel that I am crueller to Ian than those who cast stones at the innocent woman. It's like I have stopped him from progressing and having the skills for him to survive on his own. However, even if I go back, I would still have chosen the same choice. Letting him suffer such tragedies, I am too selfish to let him go through that.]

Kyrie sensed a violent tug in his heart. However, Imogen put her hand on Kyrie's slumped shoulders and patted him as comfort. She fully understood his thinking process. After all, she experienced that as well. Kyrie did what he thought was right.

[I need to focus now. It is not time to be emotional. We are still in danger.]

Kyrie set aside his emotions and cleared his mind to focus on what is in front of him. He will let Ian have his own time to think through. Kyrie took a deep breath and reached towards Ian again. Ian avoids him, but Kyrie is determined to show Ian that he cares. So, Kyrie grabbed Ian's wrist. Ian slowly turned around after a while and looked at Kyrie's eyes. Kyrie gave him a soft smile while frowning a bit out of concern. Looking at Kyrie's expression, Ian softened his tension and stopped his resistance. Kyrie hugged him and then cupped Ian's left cheek caressing Ian's face with his thumb.

"Must have been a shock, right? Don't worry, I will try my best from now on," says Kyrie.

[It's not like I stopped caring about your thoughts, Ian. I also believe that you are not wrong.]

Laurel looked at Kyrie's and Ian's interaction and smiled.

"So they were a couple," thought Laurel while side gazing towards Imogen for a couple of seconds.

Tobias scratched his head after he looked around to see who particularly stands out. However, no matter how much he looked at the people that were on the streets, he could not identify between a human and a ghoul. Time has not progressed enough for the ghouls to start changing their form due to their change in nature. Unlike the other undead monsters out there, ghouls possess a certain amount of intelligence that allows them to operate around humans in a less obvious fashion.

Tobias gave up and tilted his head back, giving out a sigh. He says, "This is impossible. No matter where I look, I can't identify between a human and a new ghoul. There is also absolutely no clues to how to find the enchantment circle either. We are already set to die."

Kyrie rubbed his thumb on his other hand's palm. He does this out of habit whenever he has to think deeply.

[Ghouls... That witch Saskia has enough power to convert the dead into ghouls. Just how many life sacrifices that witch gave to the fallen god? This was not in the original storyline, either. Yue...]

"Hmmm?" responded Yue in Kyrie's mind.

[Saskia appeared much later in the story. Do you know how she was able to gain so much power?]

"I am forbidden to tell you more, Kyrie," answered Yue.

[Forbidden? You got restrained?]

"Yeah. A small god like me has to follow a certain rule due to my influence on other beings' fate. I am lucky already that I am not stripped off my title and cast away. Do you think you need Vita's help?" Yue's voice echoed in Kyrie's head.

[No, it is better for Vita not to involve herself. Her involvement will twist even further the messed up fate that we are already in. Everything is going faster than the other timeline that we know. Many things have changed already due to my involvement. Ian changed. Imogen changed. The witch Saskia appeared and involved herself with human affairs this early into the story. Imogen even met Laurel earlier than expected.]

"This sounds like an impossible situation. That witch really likes to play and torture people," replied Yue.

[Play? Wait... Saskia is known to love games...]

"Yeah?" Yue replied, confused.

Kyrie came into a realization. He looked at the group of people surrounding him, also thinking deeply.

Kyrie says, "I think I understand the game."

Kyrie's words got everyone's attention.

Tobias says, "Oh! What? What did you understand?"

Kyrie smiles and says, "Saskia, the witch, is known for loving games. That is why a devoted gamemaster would never make a game without an actual way to play it. She gave us a hint from the beginning. The way to solve the game is to destroy the enchantment circle that is located somewhere in the town. However, we do not know where it is. So, our clue is first to clear our daily mission, and that is to kill three ghouls."

Laurel asks, "However, how are we going to identify which is a ghoul and which is a human? Ghouls are easy to identify once time already passed, and their bodies adjust to their new nature. However, we only have a limit of four days. That is not enough time for a new ghoul to transform!"